Is this a bad Spring?

[Calistar]

I know some of you have had some really good days on the water this year. Heck, the photo pages prove it. BUT overall would you say this is a down year for local bass fishing? Clearlake, the Delta, etc...they all seem to be very sporadic....and IF you do agree this is a down year...why do you think that is?

Greg H.
aka Calistar

[jacob]

Greg, I'd have ta say it's the weather. I can't say for sure but I do know it's the end of April and I have had the last three days full of snow up here where I'm at and the elk haven't even dropped their horns yet...hell I still have three feet of snow on the ground too. I now know the full meaning of cabin fever

[Tin Can]

I think it's just a late spring. Definitely colder than last year.

[Josh St.John]

It's still only april, we got a lot of nice weather early this year. If you think back a few years ago it was still cold and rainy this time of year. The weather has just not been as stable as in the last few years. Last year it seemed like every fish in Clear lake came up at one time.
http://wiredangler.typepad.com/wiredangler/

[Mort]

It seems just as soon as some lake is going to "turn on" the weather changes and puts things on hold. I bet as May comes in the weather will be a little more consistent and so will the bite.



Chuck Norris destroyed the periodic table, because he only recognizes the element of surprise.

[g-man]

unstable weather, it should get better soon, but the bites not really that bad either......

Greg ya gonna come out and fish any of Rips ABA tourneys this year??

[Greg_Cornish]

Weather and the food have changed the bass habits at Clear Lake IMHO. I've only been able to catch fish off wood. Trees buried in water in the daytime. Once when we had blue bird weather and no wind I found them darn near on shore along tules (in the evening and night only).

I haven't figured out how to change with them. I still somewhere between a novice to intermediate fisherman.

[Jason C.]

Looks like we are going to have to start "Tulle Dipin" again. Now all we need is some one to make a 12ft rod! Its legal in FLW events!

[David Rogers]

After next week end I will let you know but so far for me Clear Lake was nothing like 2006 and 2007 spring, its definitely colder this spring , its still getting to cold at night for the bass to stay active, I am going to start keeping an eye on the night time low, not as much as the day time high, bass are lazy and they don't want to be going up and down up and down:)

I think Clear Lake has ONE of THREE possible problems but I think its the night time low.

1. Cold spring, mainly night time lows
2. food, not enough or too much
3. to much fishing pressure.

Again I think its #1 but there are some sticks that are still doing well like Marty the guide there, he seems to be doing well and a few top sticks in the FLW and other tourney's.

[Calistar]

G-Man,

Greg ya gonna come out and fish any of Rips ABA tourneys this year??

I'd sure like to come out and see the boys. My schedule has been cra-zy this year. I can't remember the last tournament I competed in.

Ya never know when ol' greg is gonna show up!

See you,

Greg.
aka Calistar

[Cooch]

I think it's an awesome spring! Gotta love it when ya can catch 20-30 pounds a day in the spring and never have ta go bed fishing ta do it!!!!!!!! Thank God, cause BDO would be kickin you tournament guy's butts right now!

Just a late spawn process, enjoy this, it might not ever happen again with Global warming! HAR! HAR !HAR!

[BIG DADDY BLUE RANGER]

personally I'd disagree %100..... for the Delta this has been the best year for big fish most anyone who's been at this game a while can remember......... as much as most of us complain about the weed killing program goin on... it's made those bigguns a lot easier to bag..... which may hurt us in the years to come,,, will have to wait and see.

as for Clear Lake... I do think that one particular fishery is on a downturn...... which is all totally relative... last year CL was phenominal... this year it's still better than many other lakes but doesn't compare with the last 5 years or so... it's just the naturnal cycle of things....

This years spring has been a little on the cool side.. nothing alarming.. unstable spring weather reliably happens every year... not to be confused with death and taxes...

even this past winter wasn't really that bad... two winters ago it was really, really, really cold.... but spring came warm and fast in 07

As for CL's downturn... my theory is the shad population started to diminish during the really cold winter two years ago... probably why the fishing was so fantastic last year,, those big mama's were still there and didn't have a lot to eat. Notice all them big school's of crappie went bye bye last year too.......I'm sure they fed plenty of giant largies... Unfortunately, I think the rest of the forage in the lake just wasn't enough to support all those giant bass.. My un-educated guess is many bigger fish probably didn't get enough to eat last fall and died during this winter as a result ............ not all (or many for that matter) dead fish float.... for the decade or so I had an aquarium, most of my dead fish sank....

There are still plenty of CL fish and some bigguns too.... it's just that folks have been spoiled up there for the last few years... it'll come back..... This year..... THE DELTA ROCKS !!!!!

just my $.02

[Tin Can]

Ya never know when ol' greg is gonna show up!

Old Greg? Is that you?

http://youtube.com/watch?v=u_hMnT44Etk

[ash]

I also disagree with the Delta, this year has been the year of the PIG on the Delta. I guess it was the Delta's turn.

With that being said, my lake fishing experience this year has been off in terms of spring. Well I should say nature has been doing what nature does, and I am miss guessing where the fish should\nt be (so I have been off on all lakes that I have visited, including Clear Lake)

But this is Bass Fishing and part of the fun, for me, is figuring out the pieces of the puzzle, applying them and testing my knowledge against the fish and results against my bro's.

Definatly a wierd spring we had a 40 degree night last night and its 85 so far today.....

[Calistar]

Old Greg? Is that you?

Ok...THAT was weird...but funny.

Where in the heck did you find that video?

dang-it...now I gotta change my name.

signed: The angler formally known as Greg

[Dan McKenzie]

For me personally it's been the best spring bass fishing I have ever had.

[CN]

I think it's an awesome spring! Gotta love it when ya can catch 20-30 pounds a day in the spring and never have ta go bed fishing ta do it!!!!!!!! Thank God, cause BDO would be kickin you tournament guy's butts right now!

Just a late spawn process, enjoy this, it might not ever happen again with Global warming! HAR! HAR !HAR!

Last weekend and Monday Tuesday and Wednesday we had frost on the roof's and windshield's here in Salinas.We normally dont get that much frost here even in December and January.

Must be Global Warming.............ok

[Tin Can]

Haha! My first reaction to that video was "WTF" it is pretty funny though. Fuzzy little man peach!

Someone just e-mailed it to me one day and it's spread around the office here like a disease!

[Tin Can]

I think it's an awesome spring! Gotta love it when ya can catch 20-30 pounds a day in the spring and never have ta go bed fishing ta do it!!!!!!!! Thank God, cause BDO would be kickin you tournament guy's butts right now!

Just a late spawn process, enjoy this, it might not ever happen again with Global warming! HAR! HAR !HAR!

Last weekend and Monday Tuesday and Wednesday we had frost on the roof's and windshield's here in Salinas.We normally dont get that much frost here even in December and January.

Must be Global Warming.............ok

I live pretty close to Salinas and my car has had frozen windows when I leave for work at 7am a couple of times this week. It's definitely taking a while for things to warm up this year compared to last.

[dockboy]

SoCal is the same way this year. Depends where you're at and the local weather. Puddingstone and some of the other lakes down here were on fire in early March, But other places like Castaic and Piru was still in prespawn as of early this month. My local club lake in Palmdale is always a bit later because of the weather, but this year it was pretty near impossible to calculate anything. Last two years we had a dry year, and good weather by early March with few exceptions. This year, we had freezing rain and sleet all the way into later March at times. I'm at 4500ft. in the San Gabriels. We had 3 1/2 feet of snow and lots of rain, which is good. We need it down here, underground water levels will be back up again. But I have to say its the weather. On again off again, that's all. No the weather is fairly stable and the bite is starting to pick up again. But the weather has also made for some very big sacks down here. On and off weather keeps the fish in prespawn shape and most the fish up until recently were very fat. The weather can be tough anywhere, but it seems particularly malicious in California this year.

[David Rogers]

Last Year the Delta and Clear Lake were very very good in the spring, this year only the Delta has been very very good, for some reason Clear Lake just has not come on board this spring yet, I am not yet ready to start keeping my boat close to the Delta but I don't have a problem with the move, I am pro bass not pro lake. If I start fishing the Delta I will paint my Ranger Camo and start following Cooch and Big Daddy Blue around until they start firing shots over my head:)

[Mike]

I agree this is the Bast year for big fish on the delta. I have never caught 3 ten pounders in one month before. Did last month.